Helping children with cancer worldwide
In countries with high medical standards such as Germany, around 80 percent of children suffering from cancer can be cured with the therapies currently available. In other countries, the cure rate is 60 percent or less. In Pakistan and Indonesia, for example, less than 30 percent of children survive their cancer. There is therefore an urgent need to build capacity and expertise in these countries, as well as equal access to innovative diagnostic and therapeutic options.
The “Heidelberg Brain Tumor Classifier” developed in Heidelberg is an AI-supported tool that supports the classification and diagnosis of brain tumors and sarcomas.
The algorithm has been published on the internet and is available to users worldwide free of charge. Since the launch of the MNP platform, more than 160,000 tumor samples have been uploaded to the web portal (as of November 2024). The molecular data of the tumor samples comes from cancer patients from over 40 countries and more than 400 institutions where researchers have used the algorithm to refine the diagnosis of their patients. An accurate diagnosis is the key to the right treatment and therefore to the child's chances of recovery.
The MNP Outreach Consortium (Global Outreach Study of Methylation Classification Tools for Brain Tumors and Sarcomas) was set up to make this breakthrough in cancer diagnostics accessible to patients in low- and middle-income countries. The partner countries so far are Jordan, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Egypt. 13 institutes from these countries are currently participating in MNP Outreach (as of November 2024). The aim is to involve further countries and institutes.
As part of the MNP Outreach program, scientists from these countries have been receiving targeted training in Heidelberg since 2023, as well as laboratory equipment and the necessary analysis software to implement the molecular diagnostic methods in their respective institutions. The aim is to enable the partner institutions to carry out all diagnostic steps in their own laboratories, from the preparation of tumor samples to data analysis and interpretation, largely free of charge for their patients. Each year, participating institutions treat more than 3,500 young and adult cancer patients with central nervous system tumors and sarcomas who could benefit from the project led by KiTZ researchers.
The MNP Outreach Program is largely financed by project funding, donations and contributions in kind. A contribution to the MNP Outreach Program is a contribution to equal, democratic access to state-of-the-art medicine for young cancer patients worldwide.
Donation account “MNP Outreach: Helping worldwide”
Recipient: KiTZ
Bank institute: Sparkasse Heidelberg
IBAN: DE39 6725 0020 0009 3471 00
BIC: SOLADES1HDB
Purpose: MNP Outreach
If we are allowed to issue you with a donation receipt, please include your full address in the reference field of your bank transfer. Donation receipts are issued in accordance with the German model.